Ernest Marsh wrote:
Anybody know of any Zebra crossings, with the original Bolisher Beacons in their locale?
We have one in Windermere, just outside a local school, about 100 yards or so from the police station. The crossing is used by most of the children to cross the main road from Windermere to Bowness - and because it is so out of date, many drivers dont give it a second glance.
There have been several near misses, where people have been on the crossing, and cars have failed to stop until the very last minute.
As usual, all agencies accept it must go, and be replaced with a PUFFIN or PELICAN, but nobody has money in their budgets, so they keep passing the buck. The police have made an effort to stamp out parking on the zig-zag lines - 3 people were ticketed in one week, but that is the limit of their powers.
Anyone any ideas, other than getting somebody who intends committing voluntary euthanasia, to carry it out on the crossing - it seems all it would take would be a fatality to speed things up!
Maybe Steve Callaghan could divert some of that half million pounds towards some REAL road safety imrovement work, instead of sending it to the treasury!!!
Caused me a lot of nightshifts in the mid nineties, that crossing. The bobby on the other half of my shift got cleaned up at it. He pulled up to stop at the crossing on an old BMW 1000 bike to allow someone to cross. The muppet behind didn't see either him or the pedestrian who had started to cross. He didn't brake at all, pushed the bike from under my mate, and bounced him off his windscreen. He was lucky only to have a few broken bones. The pedestrian was not hit.
I had to do his nightshifts as well as my own for the following four months.
The following year another shift partner was knocked over about 200 metres from that crossing, when directing traffic at an RTC. She (foolishly) trusted her dayglo and her extended hand to stop someome coming towards her from her rear. He didn't stop, and knocked her over, breaking her ulnar bone. She was also off for four months.
One of the main problems (I think) is that tourists are looking for their guest house, and don't have full concentration on the road.
George (traffic warden) used to man that crossing for the kids Ernest. I presume that doesn't happen now? I can't recall seeing one there at the relevant times, although we don't get through to Windermere as often as I'd like.